When the measure reached the halls of Parliament, the nation took to the streets in earnest, walking off their jobs in a time-tested manner that has all too often proved both utterly disruptive to life and at the same time somewhat successful in moderating political behavior - as the case has been since mass student protests in 1968 down to the yellow vest movement more than four years ago. Not surprisingly, the moment of the first announcement of tweaks to their treasured pension system two months ago, the French began to protest. In the 13 years since the retirement age in France rose to 62 from 60, the average life expectancy has also risen by two years to 83 from 81, according to UN population figures. At the current 62 years, only Slovenia at 60 is lower. Not that his most die-hard political opponents aren’t circling on all sides across the vast French political spectrum.įrom the far-right acolytes of Marine Le Pen to the far left of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (unbowed) party, the political sharks are all smelling blood on the water, even though the next elections aren’t for another four years.Īt issue is Macron’s decision that the nation needs to bite the bullet and raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64 years - which would still leave it in the lower half of European Union nations. But don’t count Emmanuel Macron out - not yet. And the nation’s hitherto Teflon president appears caught in the middle of a host of competing political currents and the nation’s fiscal realities. France is burning - Paris particularly, the city that is already gearing up to host next year’s Summer Olympics.
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